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Today in Labour History

17 December 1663

Statue of Nzinga in Luanda, Angola

Source: Wikipedia

African Warrior Queen

Ana Nzinga was a legendary warrior queen in 17th-century Portuguese Guinea (modern-day Angola) who opposed the Portuguese slave traders in her homeland. She even pacted with the Dutch in order to chase away the Portuguese, but this did not work out. Nzinga allegedly tried to resettle runaway slaves and Portuguese-trained African soldiers in a kind of military commune, the kilombo. She died on 17 December 1663, eighty years old, to become an inspiration for Angola's war of independence three hundred years later.